1. Field of the Invention
invention relates to a housing for a tape cassette (hereinafter referred to a tape cassette housing) which is adapted to receive a tape cassette therein in non-use of the tape cassette, and more particularly to a tape cassette housing for receiving therein a tape cassette, particularly, a tape cassette for business or commercial use such as a video tape cassette or the like for, storage, transportation or the like.
2. Description of Related Art
A video tape cassette which has been conventionally used for a business or commercial purpose such as broadcasting or the like is generally constructed as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. More particularly, the conventional video tape cassette generally designated at reference numeral 100 in FIG. 1 includes a cassette casing 102 comprising an upper casing member 104, a lower casing member 106 and a front lid or cover 108 for selectively closing a front opening of the casing 102 defined between the upper casing member 104 and the lower casing member 106. In the casing 100 are rotatably received a feed reel 110 and a take-up reel 112 on which a magnetic tape (not shown) is wound in a manner to extend therebetween. The upper casing member 104 includes an upper plate 114, which is provided at a central portion thereof with an elongated transparent window 116, and the lower casing member 106 includes a lower or bottom plate 118, which is formed with a pair of holes 117 in which drive shafts of a video tape deck for transmitting drive force therethrough from a drive system of the deck to a hub 120 of the feed reel 110 and a hub 122 of the take-up reel 112 are adapted to be inserted, respectively. The front lid 108 comprises an outer lid section and an inner lid section and is adapted to close the front opening of the casing 102 by elastic force applied thereto and protect a portion of the magnetic tape extending across the front lid in a manner to interpose the portion therebetween in non-use of the video tape cassette. This effectively prevents not only dust from entering the video tape cassette through the front opening but prevents an operator or user from touching the video tape by mistake during storage or transportation of the video tape cassette. Adhesion of dust or the like to the magnetic tape or damage to the magnetic tape causes errors to be produced in a signal stored on the tape, leading to disturbance of an image, drop-out of an image and the like.
Also, the drive shaft inserting holes 117 formed at the lower plate of the lower casing member 106 are adapted to be closed with the corresponding reels 110 and 112, respectively. Unfortunately, the conventional video tape cassette fails to permit the reels to satisfactorily close the inserting holes without aid of any additional means. In view of the above, the conventional video tape cassette is so constructed that pressing members 124 and 126 which each may comprise, for example, a spring-forced button and are adapted to be respectively put on the hubs 120 and 122 to cause the reels 110 and 112 to be pressed against the lower plate 118 of the lower casing member 106 in non-use of the video tape cassette, to thereby ensure closing of the inserting holes 117 with the reels. The so-constructed pressing members 124 and 126 each are provided at an upper end thereof with a flange, which is arranged to outwardly project via a through-hole 128 (130) formed at the transparent window 116.
As will be noted from the foregoing, in use of the video tape cassette, the pressing members 124 and 126, function to initially downward press the reels 110 and 112, and are forced upward by drive shafts to thereby permit the tape to stably travel. FIG. 2 also shows an operational relationship between the feed reel 110 and the pressing member 124, of which a left half shows the relationship in non-use of the video tape cassette and a right half shows it in use of the cassette. As shown in FIG. 2, the pressing member 124 includes a coiled spring 132 and a button 134 constantly upward urged by the coiled spring 132. The feed reel 110 is provided at upper and lower ends thereof with an upper flange 136 and a lower flange 138, respectively. It is a matter of course that the relationship between the take-up reel 112 and the pressing member 126 may be formed in substantially the same manner as that between the reel 110 and the pressing member 124 described above. The video tape cassette constructed as described above is generally stored and transported while being received or housed in a tape cassette housing comprising a housing body and an upper cover and provided with a locking mechanism.
As described above, in non-use of the video tape cassette, the reels 110 and 112 are merely pressed against the bottom plate 118 of the lower casing member 106 by the pressing members 124 and 126, respectively. This renders the reels 110 and 112 unstable in the casing 102 during transportation of the video tape cassette, to thereby cause the reels to collide with an inner surface of the cassette casing 102 and/or any projection on the inner surface, resulting in fragments or dust being produced. This causes any error to be produced in signals stored on the magnetic tape even when the video tape cassette is constructed so as to prevent dust from entering the cassette from the exterior as described above. In the worst case, a head of the video tape deck is clogged with the so-produced fragments or dust. In general, the cassette casing 102 is provided therein with a reel brake for preventing looseness of the magnetic tape. Unfortunately, the reel brake fails to prevent rotation of the reels in a tape recording or playing-back direction although it prevents the rotation in a tape rewinding direction, to thereby fail to prevent generation of the fragments and dust.
A tape cassette housing which has been conventionally used for receiving therein a video tape cassette for business or commercial use such as the above-described video tape cassette in non-use of the tape cassette is generally constructed in such a manner as shown in FIG. 3. More particularly, in the conventional tape cassette housing, a rectangular housing body 140 and a rectangular cover 142 are connected to each other through a hinge member 144 so as to permit the cover 142 to be openable with respect to the housing body 140. Also, the housing body 140 is provided at a surface portion thereof engaged with the cover 142 with a stopper means 146.
Unfortunately, the conventional tape cassette housing constructed as described above causes the cover to be easily released from the engagement with the housing body 140 because the stopper means 146 fails to exhibit frictional resistance and impact or shock resistance to a degree sufficient to securely hold the cover 142 with respect to the housing body 140, resulting in the tape cassette being ejected from the housing. Also, this causes the tape cassette housing to fail to exhibit a dust-proof function. Such a disadvantage is particularly encountered with a video tape cassette for business use because it is heavy. In order to solve the problem, it is proposed to provide the tape cassette housing with increased lock strength. However, this leads to deterioration of operability of the housing and troublesomeness of the handling.